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Firefighters hauled an injured man from a fiercely burning house in this morning that required all the city's fire engines to battle the blaze.
Fire Service southern communication centre supervisor Riwai Grace said firefighters raced to the two-storey Balmoral Drive house in Invercargill, understood to be a gang headquarters, after emergency services were alerted just before 7am.
An injured man was pulled out of the building, but details of his injuries were unknown.
All five Invercargill fire crews, involving some 28 firefighters, were called out to fight the fire, Mr Grace told NZPA.
A unit from Bluff was called in to cover the city for about 90 minutes until the fire was brought under control.
"She was a big one," he said. "It was burning very well and would have been quite spectacular, I believe."
Fire crews were dampening hot spots and police and fire safety officers were investigating the cause. No explosions had been reported in the multiple emergency calls received by the Fire Service.
"I don't think we'll know any idea of how this started until fire safety and police have a look at the crime scene," Mr Grace said.
The building contained a number of concrete walls, causing problems for firefighters.
"It was too dangerous to go inside and do an internal attack, so they basically surrounded it and made sure it didn't spread anywhere else."
It appeared there was just one person in the house when the fire began.
- NZPA
